Japan bank to install palm-reading ATMs

A regional bank in central Japan will become the country’s first financial institution to adopt automated teller machines that will identify users by their palms.

Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank said it would install about a dozen palm-scanning biometric ATMs in late September and planned more in the future.

Under the system, developed by Fujitsu Ltd., users will be able to prove who they are simply by scanning their hands and entering a PIN and date of birth, the bank said.

Demand for a system that does not require a cashcard or a passbook increased after the earthquake-tsunami disaster that ravaged northeast Japan last March in which many people lost personal possessions and were left without the means to get at their money.

The bank said it will be only the second in the world to introduce biometric-dependent ATMs, after Ziraat Bank, Turkey’s largest state bank.